Former governor announces U.S 70 economic impact analysis

MOREHEAD CITY — One more wheel turning on the long journey to a four-lane U.S. 70 with bypasses through congested areas from Wake County to the Morehead City Port was announced here Friday by former Gov. Jim Martin.

MOREHEAD CITY — One more wheel turning on the long journey to a four-lane U.S. 70 with bypasses through congested areas from Wake County to the Morehead City Port was announced here Friday by former Gov. Jim Martin.

Martin told a group of regional leaders, media and press at Carteret Community College that an economic development analysis is being launched for the U.S. 70 Corridor to make the highway more efficient, enjoyable and environmentally and economically friendly.

Almost a decade of concerted lobbying for improvements to the highway, which connected the state’s central coast to the rest of the state, have been underway by a “Super 70” U.S. 70 Corridor Commission. It began as group of individuals representing counties along U.S. 70 from Wake to Carteret who ultimately hired commission chairman M. Durwood Stephenson to keep their effort alive.

“This study will focus on the economic development impacts of completing the four lane freeway bypass system of highways from I-40 in Raleigh to the Morehead City State Ports facility, and completing the conversion of U.S. 117 to I-795 from Goldsboro to I-40,” Stephenson said. “This analysis has extraordinary implications for the economic development of counties along these highway corridors.”

The N.C. Department of Transportation-funded study is being done by Cambridge Systematics, which did a similar analysis for financing and funding for I-95, in conjunction with the North Carolina economic development consultant group Sanford Holshouser Consulting.

Division Engineer John Rouse will oversee the project for DOT, and Paula Dowell is leading the project, which she said is expected to be complete by the end of the year. Its basic cost is $225,000 plus an additional, and as yet undetermined, cost for the N.C. 117 to 1-795 connection to I-40.

“It was the Highway Trust Fund’s ambition that by now 90 percent of population would be within 10 minutes of a freeway,” Martin, governor when the North Carolina Highway Trust Fund was established, said. “We hope to recognize that in some of your lifetimes. But it’s been complicated. Progress is awfully easy to block.”

The analysis will look at the current corridor status, all areas of economic development and ask about impediments to business recruitment and retention, said Ernest Pearson of Sanford Holshouser. It will also look at the impacts of completing U.S. 70 corridor bypasses and what is positive, and what steps are needed to mitigate any harm to retail merchants.

Martin urged those involved to “Look at this study critically and speak as boldly and forcefully as you can to get it done. If you have problem, see problem, let them know about it. We don’t want surprises. We don’t want to be in the middle of construction and find out something we forgot to think about.”

Carteret County Board of Commissioners Chairman Greg Lewis brought a chuckle from the nearly 100 regional leaders attending when he referred to the location as “where you feel like Highway 70 ends.”

Page 2 of 2 - “But,” he continued, “the truth is, this is where Highway 70 begins. It is a wonderful, unique place to live and vital to the economy of North Carolina.”

Transportation is important to key state industries including tourism, manufacturing and agriculture, he said, and the Morehead City Port which depends on U.S. 70 makes this project not just vital to Carteret County but the whole state.